Okay, the 2009 season is over for the Marlins, and there’s a bitterness to that statement that is real, but not relevant. The squad this past year seriously disappointed only those who didn’t recognize they were playing above themselves the entire year.
Face it, Florida, with the smallest payroll in the majors this past year had no business even winning the 87 games they did, let alone making it to the postseason, and while I’d have loved another miracle playoff appearance as much as the next man, it’s more than likely the Marlins would have been dispatched as easily as Philadelphia is taking out the Dodgers.
So, our focus, as it should be, is on the future. Questions are raised, rightfully so, and trades are discussed. Who’ll stay and who’ll go? Dan Uggla, probably at the zenith of his worth to the Marlins, is the player garnering the most trade talk, with most feeling he’s played his last game in Land Shark Stadium for the home team.
Alejandro De Aza, the Marlins starting centerfielder at the beginning of the 2007 season is gone, having just been claimed off waivers from the Marlins by the Chicago White Sox. While he was talented, the Marlins had a glut of talent in the outfield, and De Aza hadn’t been able to stay healthy enough in his time with the Fish to really prove his value, so this isn’t really a great loss.
Other players will be talked about, and some will almost assuredly not be with Florida at the beginning of Spring Training, while new additions, some of them desperately necessary if the Marlins are to compete next year, will be made; you can count on that.
Whatever happens, though, in regard to trades and roster moves, I’d like to discuss something that really won’t affect the team till after some of the players who’ll be joining the Fish in those roster moves actually move on again; the Florida Marlins' (or Miami Marlins once they move into it) new home, Miami Ballpark.
Prior to the beginning of the 2009 season I wrote a piece on the new ballpark, which at that time hadn’t yet been approved, but was on the verge of being so which you can read here . That process went through some trying times immediately after I wrote that piece, and it was only after many weeks that Marlins fans received the fabulous news that our beloved team would forevermore have a home in South Beach.
Champagne popped and fizzed that night, and anyone associated with the beleaguered Florida franchise breathed a deep sigh of relief, knowing the long, hard-fought quest to secure a home for the Marlins had ended. Or did it?
Well, just recently, auto tycoon Norman Braman tried desperately to nix the entire project, taking the issue to court in an effort to stop local leaders from investing hundreds of millions of public dollars in the stadium.
Braman had support among the general public, as well. Polls showed that voters overwhelmingly opposed the deal, approved by both city and county commissions, which granted public funding to the stadium and basically allowed the project to go forward.
With one word, “affirmed,” though, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court’s ruling last year that went against all seven of Braman’s claims in his suit, and ended the last gasp attempt by Braman to destroy what so many Marlins fans had cheered about.
While the stadium had originally been intended to open for the 2011 season, delays in the approval process, along with other unforeseen problems, has moved the finish date to April of 2012, with the Miami Marlins as they’ll then be called, hoping to start their season in the technologically-advanced retractable-roof stadium.
If the court had ruled in any other way, the case would have assuredly gone further in court, and had the potential to delay that opening-day extravaganza.
Instead, the Marlins will open the doors to the fantastic stadium on time, as planned. And boy are the fans going to be pleased—not only will there be an abundance of high-tech Jumbotrons on display in the 37,000-seat stadium, there’ll also be technology in place to inform patrons of where the nearest concession stand is and when the lines are lowest.
In a word, the new Miami Ballpark is going to utilize technology in every way possible to make the experience for the people coming to the park “fan friendly.”
While I understand the arguments of those who had problems with using public funding for the stadium, I also know that the Miami community, many of whom aren’t always represented in those polls I mentioned, is and will in the future, benefit from this ballpark.
However, we’ll all still have to wait till 2012 to enjoy it. While the Marlins should be a good team next year, we won’t be enjoying the team play in their new stadium. Not yet, not yet.
Nonetheless, I’m of the opinion that if auto tycoon Norman Braman visits the park after its completion the Marlins organization should send instructions to his seat directing him to the nearest swamp.
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